Dharma Glimpses with Judy Lief

[This episode originally aired on March 7, 2023] It may seem odd to talk about the benefits of “don't know mind” in a tradition that places such value on learning and on study  •  it also may seem odd because in the Buddhist tradition there is a great deal of discussion about ignorance and delusion, and the harm that comes from lack of knowledge, lack of awareness, lack of critical thinking ...

[This episode originally aired on February 28, 2023] The Buddhist path includes many methods for reminding us to wake up — from our blurriness, our sleepiness, and the busyness and distractedness of life  •  it's easy to get lost in the woods; reminders help us find our way back to the path  •  traditionally there are what are called the four basic or fundamental reminders  •  the first remin...

[This episode originally aired on February 21, 2023]  Is there a way to make a sane relationship with our bad deeds and our regrets, to learn from them and to move on from them?  •  it's not easy to face up to all that we've done; it's not easy to find a way between wallowing in guilt and evading responsibility  • in the Buddhist monastic traditions, there is a practice that address...

[This episode originally aired on February 14, 2023]  Images of the Buddha sitting in meditation posture give the impression that the buddhist path is quiescent and still; but actually it's a very dynamic, ever-evolving, and important journey  •  personally, I connect this idea of journey with a sense of something within us that we have lost and are trying to get back to  •  I think of this m...

  [This episode originally aired on February 7, 2023]  Early Buddhist meditators spent quite a lot of time alone in retreat in remote, rugged areas  •  as a result, they were very much in tune with the the five basic elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space  •  they observed that everything inside is mirrored by what is outside, and everything outside is mirrored by what is inside  •  we ca...

[This episode originally aired on January 31, 2023] A common idea about the spiritual path is that it is punctuated by gigantic breakthroughs, by big revelations  •  but many deep and important insights don't come in that way; they come in through glimpses  •  glimpses can be sudden or they can just kind of seep in; they are little openings or gateways into a sense of the whole  •  in some wa...

[This episode originally aired on January 24, 2023]  Through infusing mindfulness awareness into our everyday actions, we can invoke or evoke a magical quality to existence, a natural wisdom, which is known as “drala”  •  there's a famous line from the movie Field of Dreams that's often repeated: “If you build it, they will come”  •  in some ways, through our mindfulness and awareness, w...

[This episode originally aired on January 17, 2023]  A large part of our reality involves talking, or working with our speech; it is one of the main ways we connect with our world  •  but our speech can also get us into a lot of trouble, including using it as a way of escaping from reality  •  Trungpa Rinpoche said that paying attention to speech is a way of paying attention to reality  •  but oft...

[This episode originally aired on January 10, 2023]  The image of remaining like a log comes up in a number of different traditional Buddhist texts  •  think of a log rotting slowly in an ancient forest — it just lies there placidly, providing sustenance and a home for various critters as it gradually dissolves into the forest floor  •  sometimes remaining like a log is talked about in terms of vi...

[This episode originally aired on January 3, 2023]  In exploring the idea of transmission, we're looking into how the teachings are passed on, how the teachings are taught, and how the student can access the teachings  •  but what do we mean by transmission?  •  a helpful analogy is to think of music: you can learn to play all the notes in a song, but the music is not there  •  so what makes...

[This episode originally aired on December 27, 2022]  I'd like to introduce three simple short meditation practices that help us tune in to the rich and ongoing process of exchange that marks our lives altogether  •  we're always giving something out to the world and receiving something from it  •  we are affected by others and we affect others in so many ways; and we're also quite...

[This episode originally aired on December 20, 2022] One of my favorite nursery rhymes contains quite a bit of wisdom: “Row row, row, row your boat gently down the stream; merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream”  •  if we think of the stream as a stream of teachings, then we could consider the Buddha as the source of the stream  •  from that beginning a great river continues to flow over t...

[This episode originally aired on January 15, 2024]  The phrase, “When you lose your mind, come back” describes a lot of what happens in meditation: repeatedly losing our minds, and repeatedly bringing ourselves back  •  the moment we’ve noticed we’ve lost it is the moment we can return  •  what are we returning to? the simplicity of the present moment  •  another phrase Trungpa Rinpoche used quit...

[This episode originally aired on January 8, 2024]  At our core is our tender heart, tinged with a touch of sadness  •  it is sweet and vulnerable  •  this soft spot may be deeply buried, but it is always there  •  even very simple or momentary experiences can connect us with this heart: you might watch a pair of swallows fly back and forth, over and over, bringing food to their hungry chicks, and...

[This episode originally aired on January 1, 2024]  Trungpa Rinpoche emphasized the importance of understanding space  •  he encouraged us to explore our experiences of boredom, our discomfort with stillness, and our tendency to fill space  •  he pointed out that the basic energy pervading all of space is love and kindness; so to cultivate greater kindness and love, it makes sense to relate to spa...

[This episode originally aired on December 25, 2023]  Today I'd like to explore the topic of space  •  the idea of space as it relates to meditation practice is connected with the notion of “gap” — noticing gaps at the end of each outbreath, noticing the little refreshing moments between things, which we often miss  •  our connection with space can be an almost embodied or physical sense of t...

[This episode originally aired on December 18, 2023]  In this episode, I'd like to explore the idea of walls — our internal walls, as well as the walls we create between ourselves and others  •  we're told we need to have clear boundaries; at the same time, we have the challenge of how to bridge the gap between self and others  • the wall between ourselves and others is not always so vis...

[This episode originally aired on December 11, 2023]  I've been thinking a lot recently about peace, especially the Buddhist view of peace  •  it's one of those ironic things: throughout history people have longed for peace and prayed for peace, yet we seem unable to free ourselves from conflict, war and struggle  •  what’s more, our desire for peace can actually manifest as aggression:...

  [This episode originally aired on December 4, 2023]  Buddhist training has two sides, somewhat parallel to pure science and applied science  •  there is the meditation aspect, the inward journey; and there is the application of that in the world, or meditation in action  •  we all have the capacity to help; we all have the capacity to cultivate compassion and also to cultivate wisdom and insight...

 [This episode originally aired on Nov. 27, 2023]  Lately I've been thinking about the slogan, “Always maintain only a joyful mind”  •  at the same time, I've been haunted by the teachings that describe samsara, the nature of reality, as an ocean of suffering  •  if the world is marked by endless suffering, how can you be joyful? and if the world is fundamentally good and wholesome, how...

[This episode originally aired on Nov. 20, 2023]  In this episode, I'd like to explore such things as resistance, avoidance, procrastination — and why it’s so hard to keep going  •  I think such things are connected with expectations and its partner, disappointment  •  in one form or another, or at one time or another, I think most of us have had these kinds of experiences  •  but we don&apos...

[This episode originally aired on Nov. 20, 2023]   This episode is about groundlessness and uncertainty  •  how do we respond when we are no longer on familiar ground, when we feel insecure?  •  it can feel so uncomfortable that we might begin to panic; and often, when we reach that point, we scramble — we scramble to find some new secure ground to replace the one that we have left  •  so we go on...

[This episode originally aired on Nov. 13, 2023]  One function of meditation practice is the quality of exposing and uncovering what's going on inside our thoughts and feelings  •  when we practice, the basic fundamental pattern that becomes obvious is how much our thinking revolves around our own needs and wants and desires  •  we look at what is there without judgment, without being embarra...

[This episode originally aired on Nov. 6, 2023]  The “five powers” are five supports for your practice  •  they are: determination, familiarization, seed of virtue, remorse, and aspiration  •  with determination, you're willing to do what it takes to get from here to there; it is connected with having some sense of why we're doing this all together; with determination, we just keep going...

[This episode originally aired on Oct. 30, 2023]  All beings truly want to be happy and content; so why do we continually and repeatedly create situations for ourselves and others that only lead to greater suffering?  •  so many large-scale problems in the world, such as warfare, famine, hatred, injustice, poverty, can be traced back to just four simple patterns: grasping, greed, hatred and ignora...